Free Anew: Book Two: Hunted by Josie Litton

as
physical in a way that frankly scares the shit out of me.
    I raise my eyes and meet her gaze, seeing in it a depth of
longing that I don’t deserve but can’t resist.
    Hell, with all the damage I’ve just done, what’s a little
more? “Dance with me,” I say.
    She doesn’t hesitate but instead flows into my arms as
though they’re the one place where she belongs. The realization is humbling
even as it troubles me deeply. This woman is a lot of things, all of them
remarkable, but she definitely comes up short on self-preservation. I thought
that she’d accepted once and for all that I’m bad for her but now I’m wondering
if I’m wrong.
    As relieved as I am that she’s got a full measure of free
will and then some, I’m not totally sold on how stubborn she can be. When she
gets that steely look in her eyes--
    “Davos knows that you’re behind what happened to the HPF. He
claims that you’re going to be held to account for it.”
    All I want to do is sink myself into her and-- “What’s
that?” I ask belatedly.
    She shoots me a chiding glare that, heaven help me, makes my
cock twitch. But then so does everything about her.
    “Davos. You. HPF. Government. Trouble.”
    “Oh, right, that. Don’t worry about it.”
    “How can I not?” she demands. “You did it because of me and
now--” Her voice trembles. She looks truly concerned. For me.
    My throat tightens. With an effort, I say, “Amelia, Davos is
bluffing. He doesn’t know anything, at least not for certain. He’s just trying
to frighten you. The government is glad to have the HPF eliminated without
getting their own hands dirty. They’re not going to question who did it. Even
if they were inclined to do so, they’re not going to pick a fight with me.”
    I’m not bragging, although it could be taken that way. The
men and the few women who run the government--really run it unlike the puppets
who front for them--don’t care about anything except their own well-being. Some
of them shelter behind the notion that what’s good for them is ultimately good
for everyone. I can only laugh at their vanity and arrogance. Others, the ones
I consider more dangerous, have an even more self-centered vision of how the
country and the world should be. Anything done to make that vision real is fine
with them. They’re a classic case of the ends justifying the means. Tangling
with me is a complication they don’t want. On the contrary, I know full well
that they still hope to co-opt me to their side.
    Amelia tilts her head back and looks at me directly. “Why is
that, Ian? What reason would the government have to fear you?”
    I shrug, partly because I’m uncomfortable with the question
but mainly because I don’t really know the answer. Not yet. My gut says that
the time is coming when I’ll have to make a choice. But for the moment, I duck
the issue, saying only, “The government is happy enough to use defense
companies like mine when they want to avoid public accountability. If they’re
waking up to the fact that there’s a downside to so much power being
concentrated in private hands, that’s their problem.”
    “But they could still come after you,” she insists. “They’re
hardly without their own resources and they can be influenced, can’t they? By
someone like Davos, for instance. He isn’t making any secret of how much he
dislikes you.”
    I choose my next words carefully, wanting to make her
understand but also wanting to put an end to the subject.
    “The authorities won’t come after me just because of Davos.
It would take a whole lot more than that. I haven’t sought a direct
confrontation with them and they have every reason not to do so with me.”
    Without giving her a chance to respond, I draw her closer,
inhaling her scent. The effect almost pushes me over the edge. If we weren’t in
the middle of a crowded dance floor--
    Not trusting myself with that line of thought, I look around
for any distraction and stumble across